When their widowed father's business fails, the Bastable children decide to restore the family fortunes themselves. No longer able to afford school, the children have all the time in the world to devise ingenious money-making schemes: from digging for treasure in their Lewisham garden to becoming highwaymen on Blackheath Common. All too often their efforts lead to trouble rather than treasure, until one adventure finally pays off...

'She's the children's writer with whom I most identify. Nesbit] said, "By some lucky chance, I remember exactly how I felt and thought at 11." That struck...